FACTORS IN NATIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. 5aj 



is gone. The die is actually cast. The period of transition, 

 already upon us, needs strong- and wise leadership — which is 

 precisely what is not forthcoming. For better or for worse we 

 are already committed to that course, which means education, 

 and economic jiressure, with all that these imply. 



The purpose, then, of our present study is to contribute 

 some notes on the unrealised factors in the situation. Where so 

 little has as yet been attempted, it is not always easy to see the 

 real values attaching to individual efforts vmtil sufficient data 

 have been accumulated and co-ordination of that data becomes 

 possible, and we are in full agreement with the appeal made by 

 Mr. Maurice S. Evans in his presidential address to this section 

 of the Association last year, that fur the present at least every 

 efifort should be made to collect the facts. This paper is therefore 

 to be regarded as a small contribution, merely suggestive in 

 character, along this particular line. 



In dealing with the unrealised factors of Native economic 

 development, it is essential for us to begin at the bej^inning-, at 

 that time when the Natives still dwelt undisturbed by the white 

 man, and in accordance with the customs and usag-es which had 

 prevailed from time immemorial. For purposes of convenience 

 the various factors are grouped together in three divisions, the 

 relationship of each to witchcraft being indicated, and in so 

 considering the available material it is quite realised that the 

 arrangement might well have been otherwise, and also that in 

 many cases a certain amount of action, interaction, and counter- 

 action as between the factors must be allowed for. The classi- 

 fication, therefore, must not be regarded -as even attempting 

 finality; it is purely one of convenience. 



II. — Domestic Animals. 



By way of illustrating the foregoing remarks on the subject 

 of future development of this s'tudy, attention is drawn to the 

 first great unrealised factor which falls to be considered. When 

 I set out to deal with the domestic animals of the aborigines, 

 the first and most important consideration was obviously (i) the 

 Cattle, and as I sought to realise the economic values of this 

 factor, it speedily became clear to me that the field of enquiry was 

 sufficiently large and important to require a paper to itself, and 

 when I sat down to the task I foimd that anything like a full 

 study of this subject would easily require a second paper. 

 Already I have dealt with the economic effects of the East Coast 

 Fever,* and there still remains the further necessity for working 

 out the importance and values, and place, of cat!tle in Native life 

 and thought. Those, then, who desire detail will find it in the 

 papers to which reference has already been made, for here we 

 must confine ourselves to the broad outlines. 



The outline, then, shows us that it was the hope of securing 

 fresh meat that induced the early voyagers to land at the Cape 

 in the first instance, and a quarrel over cattle that scared them 



* Rept. S.A. Assoc, for Adv. of Science, Pretoria, 213-226 (1915). 



